Whats causes the stone dead effect?

[new2turkey]

 

[Tail Feathers]

I shot one at 7 yards one time and took his head off.  He flopped.
Sugarray may be on it, hitting a certain part of the brain may be the key.
I shot a couple that didn't flop until I walked up and touched them.  Then they flopped, with a broken neck and pellets in the head.  Go figure?

[FireFly908]

Here is my .02 cents:

When you sever the spinal cord or hit the brain, there are still reflexes that occur.  A reflex occurs as a result of the SPINAL cord, not from the brain.  So when you sever the cord high, the reflex that causes wing beating and leg movement will still work.  Like the doc hitting your knee and it jerking out.  The heart is also still beating a few beats, IMOH, during this period as well.  So, there is circulating blood to keep the muscles working.

When a bird is stone dead I think you have hit the part of the brain that handles lung and heart beating.  There is a center in the brain that runs the automatic breathing and heart beating.  If you take this out, then those functions stop and then the birds don't have the blood to circulate to the muscles and they are stone dead.

May be way off, but that is as best my memory can serve basic brain and spinal process.

Dr. "Suggaray"
I did a lot of research on it this morning, and you are as close as any Neurologist has published that I could find!  You remember your medical school studies well!   

[sugarray]

Here is my .02 cents:

When you sever the spinal cord or hit the brain, there are still reflexes that occur.  A reflex occurs as a result of the SPINAL cord, not from the brain.  So when you sever the cord high, the reflex that causes wing beating and leg movement will still work.  Like the doc hitting your knee and it jerking out.  The heart is also still beating a few beats, IMOH, during this period as well.  So, there is circulating blood to keep the muscles working.

When a bird is stone dead I think you have hit the part of the brain that handles lung and heart beating.  There is a center in the brain that runs the automatic breathing and heart beating.  If you take this out, then those functions stop and then the birds don't have the blood to circulate to the muscles and they are stone dead.

May be way off, but that is as best my memory can serve basic brain and spinal process.

Dr. "Suggaray"
I did a lot of research on it this morning, and you are as close as any Neurologist has published that I could find!  You remember your medical school studies well!   

Glad to know some of it is still there.   

[woodchip]

I've only seen one turkey that didn't flop or anything and it was shot with a bow.  My hunting buddy shot a hen at about 15 yards that was feeding directly towards the blind we were in and he put the arrow through pretty much the entire length of her body, the arrow entered just left of her head and exited out her "rear"  That bird never knew what hit her and never made a twitch.  I think the arrow at some point severed the spine.

[turkey_slayer]

Here is my .02 cents:

When you sever the spinal cord or hit the brain, there are still reflexes that occur.  A reflex occurs as a result of the SPINAL cord, not from the brain.  So when you sever the cord high, the reflex that causes wing beating and leg movement will still work.  Like the doc hitting your knee and it jerking out.  The heart is also still beating a few beats, IMOH, during this period as well.  So, there is circulating blood to keep the muscles working.

When a bird is stone dead I think you have hit the part of the brain that handles lung and heart beating.  There is a center in the brain that runs the automatic breathing and heart beating.  If you take this out, then those functions stop and then the birds don't have the blood to circulate to the muscles and they are stone dead.

May be way off, but that is as best my memory can serve basic brain and spinal process.

Dr. "Suggaray"
I did a lot of research on it this morning, and you are as close as any Neurologist has published that I could find!  You remember your medical school studies well!   

Glad to know some of it is still there.   

Ray that is some outstanding information!  I would say you are right. Redarrow and TRKYHTR are correct then but you have to take out a certain part of the brain thats already a small target to begin with.  The tighter patterns we are achieving now are upping our chances greatly of hitting that area.  That's probably part of the reason most flopped when being hit with lead due to the less pellets and more open pattern.  Thanks again! 

[mountman62]

I like to see them flop over and do the "Bicycle pedal", that way the feet are up when i grab a hold of them

[Skeeterbait]

I have had them flop in a wet sand bed, flop in a mud hole, and flop into a creek and go floating down stream.  All makes for a very unphotogenic bird.